Echo
by Storm Season
Summary: When Narcissus died, Echo did not perish as well, she only changed into a nymph of darkness. Could she move on from Narcissus? Could someone lift her curse? T just to be safe. First in a trilogy.
1. Others have Spoken

**Heya, everybody! I've actually had this (and the next three chapters) typed months ago, I just never got around to putting them up, but I am now! Basically it's a twist on the Echo and Narcissus myth, because I don't like how it ended. **

**Disclaimer: I don't know why we even do this. It's pretty obvious in the name of the website (****FAN ****) ****that we are FANS writing FICTION, therefore we are (most likely) not the authors and do not own anything. None the less, I am not Echo, so I do not own the Echo and Narcissus myth or any of the other characters (except Ivy, and the griffin (next chapt.) and everyone's personalities). You all know it, so I see no reason to repeat the disclaimer for each chapter. Unless I suddenly turn out to be Echo's reincarnation, I will never own that myth. **

"And you, my little Ivy, are the mere reflection of the stars in my realm." I sighed as I watched Zeus praise each of my sisters in turn. I stayed in the tree-shadows, wanting so badly to reveal myself, yet far too shy. _He is so handsome and romantic!_ Then everything went wrong.

"Hera is coming!" The trees whispered, startling us, warning us. Zeus jumped up, his eyes flicking around wildly.

"She cannot find me here! I cannot risk any of you being hurt by her jealously!"

"One of us must distract her, sisters, in order to give our great Zeus time to escape." Ivy says, calmly standing up, looking each one of us in the eye. "I am sure he would be eternally grateful."

"That I would." Zeus confirms, looking slightly calmer. And still incredibly handsome. My sisters look at each other in indecision, each one too scared to help. _This is my way to make myself known to his eyes! _

"I will delay Hera." I say, finally stepping out of the shadows. "I will give you time to escape." His eyes widen as he sees me, I blush, looking down in a most maidenly manner. "If that is your will."

"It is." Zeus steps forward and brushes a gentle kiss on my cheek. I step backward, eyes wide, hand to my cheek, my mind spinning. He smiles and flicks his fingers in the direction the warning had come. I spin and run, my mind too focused on Zeus's cheek kiss to think of anything else.

Suddenly Hera comes into view. I stop, shocked for a second, and then gather my wits. "O great and marvelous Hera! May I offer my humble greetings?"

"I have no time for this, nymph. I am looking for my husband, the strayful Zeus. Have you seen him?" She asks. My mind races, trying to think of anything to say.

"I might have perchance to see him. However where, I cannot quiet recall…" I begin, my mind scrambling for the right things to say to this notoriously vengeful queen.

"Recall, nymph, or you may feel my wrath." Hera hisses, and then smiles in a partially charming manner.

"O great and merciful Hera, my mind is scrambling at its fastest. Mayhap I did see him in the orchard of my sisters' picking fruit to please your worshipfulness? Would you perchance like to follow me there and see if we can locate your most faithful husband? Or mayhap-."

"Echo! He has gone! You may—.Oh!" Ivy appears, she speaks, foolishly letting Hera know of my scheme. I thought it was all coincidence, right before Ivy gives me a malicious smile. 'Good luck, harpy' she mouths, before suddenly fleeing in the opposite direction, leaving me alone with Hera.

"So, Echo, is it? This was all a scheme, giving my adulterous husband time to escape while you distract me with your chatter?"

"No! My sister speaks only of a human that we entranced—."

"Silence! You would dare not only to help my husband to stray from me but also to lie to me!" She snarls.

"No! Most beautiful and merciful Hera, I only-."

"Silence!" I fall silent, knowing it would not be wise to protest my innocence any more. "You like to chatter so much, nymph, I think that that will have to be part of your punishment." She smiles at me furiously. "From not on you will only be able to repeat the last few words that others have spoken." She waves her hand. I try to speak, to protest my innocence, but my throat chokes up, not allowing any words to pass.

I turn and run, the sound of Hera's laughter following me as I crash through the forest. _No!_ I try to shout, but I comes out very different. "Others have spoken… spoken… spoken."

So I run, tripping, even falling, but never stopping.


	2. Tears

**Chapter Two**

_How can I dare to reveal myself to him?_ I watched as he wove his way among the trees, choosing to abandon his hunting party in favor of the cool quiet of the forests. _I think I love him._ He is so beautiful it would be impossible not to love him. Long fiery red hair cascaded to his shoulders, bright blue eyes, ivory skin, and his lips (_oh his lips!)_ are the perfect shade of red. _Speak!_ I pleaded to him in my mind. _Speak so I may also speak to you!_

As if he had heard my thoughts, his head snapped up, and he called out. "Who's here?" _Thank you!_

"Here!" I echoed back to him, putting as much joy into my tone as I could.

"Come!" He said, his eyes gazing through the trees, seemingly into my very heart. _He's so beautiful!_

"Come!" I answer back. _Shall I join him? But I cannot while I cannot talk._

"Why do you shun me?" He shouted. _He must come to me, I cannot come to him._

"Why do you shun me?" I asked back, trying to hide the sadness in my voice.

"Let us join one another!" He shouted, and my will broke.

"Let us join one another!" I flew down the hill to him, throwing my arms around his neck, gazing into his eyes. _I love you!_ Then he recoiled, and my heart shattered into a million pieces.

"Hands off! I would rather die than you should have me!"

"Have me!" I begged brokenly. But he only turned and fled as fast as he could down the hill. I dropped to my knees and cradled my face in my hands, putting as much sorrow as I could into my tears.

_I must follow him!_ I speed down the hill, making sure to hide behind trees during my descent. He was sitting there, looking into a pool I had come to know well during my stay in this forest.

"Why, beautiful being, do you shun me? Surely my face is not one to repel you. The nymphs love me, and you yourself look not indifferent upon me. When I stretch forth my arms you do the same; and you smile upon me and answer my beckoning with the like." I heard him say to the water. _So he has found someone else to love him. _

I heard him sob, "Stay, I entreat you! Let me at least gaze upon you, if I may not touch you." I sat down, curling my legs up to my chest, dropping a tear every time I heard him say some endearment to his love. _Why could that not be me?_ I waited for him to move on, but he did not. _I shall stay and wait for him._ I told myself.

So I waited. For days and nights I did not move from that position. I watched as my love withered and I could feel the same happening to me. Neither of us moved to eat or drink, neither of us could stop to rest. Then one day his life ended.

I could see the moment his spirit fled. His shoulders slumped, and he fell face first into the water, presumably into the arms of the water sprite he had found to love. But no arms rose from the water to embrace him. Then a terrible thought occurred to me. I ran down the hill, not caring as my feet bloodied and bruised. When I reached him, I realized my suspicion had been correct. There was no room for a water sprite to be there and for me still not to see her. There had been no water sprite. My love had fallen in love with his own reflection.

My tears came fast and bitter. _I could have prevented this! If I had only loved him enough to chase him! I could have stopped this!_

I stood and turned, preparing to walk off, then I turn back. I placed one chaste kiss on my love's cheek, and then I ran. I knew what I would do. I could not live without my love. I would join him in the land of the dead.

**Pleasepleaseplease review! Thanks!**

**-Storm**


	3. No Satisfaction

I sat at the foot of a willow tree, one that had been a favorite of mine during my exile. I had chosen its roots as my final resting place. Slowly I stretched myself out so my head was resting on its trunk, facing the pool where my love still lay. I closed my eyes and I waited for it to end.

It didn't. I could feel my body getting weaker and weaker as the days and nights moved on, and soon I could barely even stir. Then I could start to feel it. I labored to draw breath, and then I knew the end would come soon. Then I heard the voice. Beautiful, yet malicious. Hera. "You're not getting out of this life so easily, nymph! As I have to live with my husband's unfaithfulness, so you will have to live with the death of your love!"

The sunset had begun. The shadows all around me had started to twist, moving far too much than was normal. Then one touched me. I screamed, somehow finding the energy. _It hurts!_ It was deathly cold, sucking the warmth from my skin.

The night came, and the darkness clung to my hair, binding to it the night's color. My skin pulled the color from the ground and darkened. Every second was agony. I screamed and writhed, trying to escape, yet not being able to, trapped by the darkness and my own body's weakness. Then it stopped. I collapsed to the ground, pressing myself against it, sobbing.

The sun rose and a new form of torture began. I strained toward the sunlight, sure that it would cure me of this frigid cold that clung to every fiber of my being. But it didn't. The sunlight, my beloved sunlight… burned. I screamed one last time and scrambled backwards, hiding behind the tree, out of reach from the burning flames. I sobbed, curling into a ball, bemoaning that any of this could have happened to me.

After the day ended, more strength came with the night. I stood up, wobbling. It was clear that Hera was not going to allow me to die when I wished to, so there was no point in trying to end it, as much as I wanted to. I walked in the direction of a pool full of chill water that I knew of. There are also berries, and other edibles there, so I could quench my thirst and my hunger all in one place.

The pool is normally a short walk away, but with my malnourishment and the harm done to me by both the shadows and the sunlight, it took me hours to reach it. And once I had, I wished I had not come, for I could see what the shadows had done to me.

Reflected on the surface of the pool was a figure that could only be me, a changed me. My hair had gone from a gorgeous golden brown to a matte black, flowing in a shadowy wave down to my hips. My figure was still the same, tall and slim, but my skin had gone from a creamy pale to a dark olive. But my eyes, _my eyes!_, are what had changed the most. The soft chocolate brown color had gone, leaving an almost black color, interrupted only by small silver flecks. _Dark, mysterious, and sad, no longer happy and bright._ I moaned once, almost sobbing again. _No! You have done enough crying! Do you want Hera to be happy? That is the only reason she's keeping you alive! To punish you for giving Zeus time to escape! _I dry my tears and stand up straight. I am no longer a nymph of flowers and sunshine, now a nymph of darkness and shadows.

_No more tears. If this is the one way I can keep Hera from being satisfied with what she has done to me, then I will pour my heart and soul into it. She will get no satisfaction from me. _

**Please REVIEW! Thanks!**

**-Storm**


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